Cigar too dry

[El Presidente]

I have found many cigar in my boat......a year later. I generally can't smoke them as they burn too hot but have brought back many to a smokeable state 3-4 months later. Decent to good. I will always give it a crack bringing them back. 

However 

• many have suffered structural wrapper damage through the drying process. 
• I generally have the same cigars in my home humidor. Even after my "boat finds" have been brought back to a smokeable level, they don't taste the same as those in my humidor. The worst examples don't come even close. 
• You can replace moisture, you can't replace natural oils. Yes tobacco goes through a drying process in the barns, however those barns aim to run at a required temp and  humidity level (some naturally and some automated). 

[PigFish]

1 hour ago, JR Kipling said:

 

 

Does the drying process usually cause structural damage ? What can be done to reduce this happening to a dry cigar ?



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... be careful with it!!!

No not a smart-ass answer, an accurate one.

I am not advocating letting ones cigars go dry (too dry). I am indicating that the general belief about a dry cigar is ruined is a myth. People will believe anything rather than try it themselves.

What does happen when you store too dry, or allow unintentional accidental dryness is risk a loss by fines. In this case, the structural breakdown of the cigar as an airtight 'pipette' structure required for successful smoking. Storing this dry, completely dry, then is a risky proposition. You drop your cigar and it is a goner.

A more reasonable posture must then be taken to preserve the cigar as a structural component. That posture is a balance of water to keep it sound without ruining its taste, if you are of the mind that water ruins the taste of a cigar (tobacco) if in excess, as I am.

Drying brings out the best in flavor, MHO, but it also brings out the weakness of the material as a structure. Drying can cause fissures or allow small imperfections to become fissures. Once the seal between the binder and the two ends of the cigar are breached, the cigar is near impossible to smoke and is wasted.

Cheers! -Piggy

[Smallclub]

On 02/19/2017 at 8:29 PM, stogieluver said:

What the OP failed to tell us was the general range of the ambient rH in his house.  Depending on where he lives and what, if any, air conditioning system he has, his house might be the best humidor ever. 

Exactly. This is the only point to take into account.

If the house is an old cottage in England, the cigar will be fine; if it's a wooden chalet in Arizona, the cigar is dead…

[JR Kipling]

Hmmm . . . this is an interesting topic & one that's affected most of us. €£¥$ happens, and sometimes we lose track of a cigar and it dries out. I will definitely give resuscitation a go if that happens again. - - The role of water content loss and its impact on tobacco taste (oils?) is unclear to me. I have smoked pipe tobacco that got too dry. The loss of flavor in terms of intensity and quality was apparent even when that pipe tobacco was slowly rehydrated. This was not a matter of a structural issue; it was tobacco cut into thin ribbons and smoked in a pipe bowl. On the other hand, these were not controlled experiments, so who knows what other factors may have been involved ? The dried pipe tobaccos were different blends tried at different times.

Thanks everyone for your thought provoking comments.


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[NweakO]

Sorry for the late update, almost forgot about this.

I lit the thing up 2 weeks ago and the cigar was very bland. The burn, though, was excellent which was interesting. 

Regarding outdoor rH, I am currently living in Saudi Arabia which is a very dry place. It rains 5 times a year on average. If I had to make a guess, the average humidity is 40%. Having said that, over the years I have found dry boxing my cigars for 1-1.5 weeks to be my sweet spot.  I try to keep the rH in my humidors at 65%.

Thank you all for the feedback.